Magnetic data storage devices include magnetic read/write heads that detect and modify the magnetic properties of a magnetic storage medium. For example, a magnetic read/write head may include a reader portion for retrieving magnetically-encoded information from a magnetic storage medium and a writer portion for magnetically encoding the information on the magnetic storage medium. Typically, the magnetic read/write head is mounted on a slider that slides or “flies” over the surface of a magnetic disc on an air bearing created by rotation of the magnetic disc.
To manufacture a slider, a slider substrate can be mounted on a carrier that carries the slider through clean room manufacturing processing. During processing, different materials may be coated and removed from different areas of the slider substrate to define a patterned surface for reading information from and/or writing information to a magnetic storage medium. To attach the slider substrate to the carrier, a solder bond may be formed between an attachment pad on the slider substrate and an attachment pad on the carrier. Each attachment pad may include a solder-wettable material that wets upon contact with molten solder.
During the process of manufacturing large numbers of sliders, defects may be identified in a few individual sliders. To correct these defects, the individual slider substrates may be detached from the carrier that carries the sliders through processing in order to reprocess the sliders and to correct the defects. Thereafter, to attach the defective slider to a different carrier for reprocessing, another solder bond may be formed between the slider substrate and the different carrier. In instances in which the slider substrate does not have a supplemental attachment pad, however, a new attachment pad may need to be deposited on the slider before the slider can be bonded to the different carrier. The original solder bond between the slider substrate and the original carrier may consume all of the solder-wettable material on the slider substrate, preventing the formation of a secondary solder bond between the slider substrate and a carrier.